A fourth retrospective planning application for a “chai village” on the outskirts of Bradford city centre has been refused.
Bradford Council has said it is likely to use enforcement action to “rectify the breach of planning control.”
Chai Village was built on a former mill site on Thornton Road early in 2022, despite a planning application for the work having been refused by Bradford Council.
Planning officers said the business was “visually jarring” compared to the large stone mill and warehouse buildings surrounding it, and claimed the work could jeopardise the future development of the site.
The site, on one of the main routes into the city centre, had once been earmarked for a multi million pound retail and residential development.
A second application for the business was then submitted, but later withdrawn.
A third was submitted earlier this year, this one including the large screen that had been installed on the site. This plan was refused by planners in July.
As well as the previous reasons for refusal, officers said the large digital screen could distract drivers on the busy road.
They also questioned a claim in the application that the screen would not be used at night, saying “social media posts available on the internet show late night boxing matches shown on the LED screen.”
The fourth application, by Chai Village Ltd, was submitted in August. But Council officers have now declined to even consider it – arguing there is little difference from the two applications for the site planners have already refused.
Officers said Council’s were within their rights to decline to deal with applications that have already been refused more than one.
A report by officers said: “A local planning authority may decline to determine an application for planning permission if it has refused more than one similar application within the last two years and there has been no appeal to the Secretary of State.
“Two applications have been refused planning permission at this site in the preceding two years.
“As the application seeks permission for development to which has been considered twice within the last two years and no appeal has been submitted to either refusal, the Local Planning Authority is justified in declining to determine this application.”
When asked about the future of the site now the Council is declining to consider any further retrospective applications for the business, a Bradford Council spokesman said: “Investigations are ongoing but we can confirm that it is expedient to instigate Enforcement Action to rectify this breach of planning control.”
